Campus News

Environment theme of summer lecture series

By SUE WUETCHER

“The Environment” is the theme of the eighth edition
of the UBThisSummer Lecture Series, the annual summer series of
talks by prominent UB faculty members.

The lectures, which are free and open to the public, will begin
at 4 p.m. most Wednesdays, beginning June 5 and running through
Aug. 7, in Agrusa Auditorium on the first floor of Davis Hall,
North Campus.

There will be no lecture on July 3.

The lectures will showcase UB’s ongoing research
pertaining to the environment, with topics ranging from global
warming to the Great Lakes. The series also will highlight how
researchers representing strategic strengths of the UB 2020
strategic plan approach the theme of the environment.

The schedule:

June 5: “Clean Air: How It Benefits the Young &
Old,” Alan Lockwood, emeritus professor, Department of
Neurology, Strategic Strength in Health & Wellness Across
the Lifespan. Drawing on landmark studies linking major types
and sources of air pollution to the leading causes of death in
America, Lockwood will argue that cleaner air will improve health,
control rising health care costs, and attack state and federal
debt.

June 12: “Extreme Events of the
Environment: The Challenges of Understanding & Responding to
Climate Change, Melting Glaciers, Sea Level Rise &
Hurricanes,” Chris Renschler and Jason Briner, both
associate professors, Department of Geography, Strategic
Strength in Extreme Events: Mitigation and Response. Renschler
and Briner will discuss the latest research in monitoring, modeling
and managing changes to our environment, and the resilience of
communities against related extreme events.

June 19: “After the Flood:
The Political Environment of Latin American
Culture,” Justin Read, associate professor, Department of
Romance Languages and Literatures, Strategic Strength in
Cultures & Texts. Read will introduce the concept of
“ecocriticism” in a discussion of his current research
on modern Latin American literature, showing how authors gave
meaning to Argentina and Brazil’s new urban environment in
the 19th and 20th centuries.

June 26: “How Climate Change Impacts Planning and
Policymaking in WNY,” Himanshu Grover, assistant
professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Strategic
Strength in Civic Engagement & Public Policy. Although
reliable data confirms the increasing rate of climate variability
and change due to global warming, there remains a lack of attention
to this issue in the field of environmental and development
planning. Grover will discuss planning in the Buffalo-Niagara
region and whether policymakers are sensitive to climate change and
how it affects local decision-making.

July 10: “Sustaining UB: Creating Resiliency in
the Face of Global Challenges,” Ryan McPherson,
chief sustainability officerUB Office of Sustainability. McPherson will discuss
UB’s model of “sustainability,” which focuses on
finding solutions to global challenges through research, education,
setting the bar high for sustainability in the university’s
own operations and partnering with the external community.

July 17: “An Environmental Disaster & Its
Consequences: Oxygenation of the Planet & Iron
Metabolism,” Daniel Kosman, SUNY Distinguished Professor,
Department of Biochemistry, Strategic Strength in Molecular
Recognition in Biological Systems and Bioinformatics. Kosman
will explore the chemical landscape of oxygen and Iron—the
body’s single most important nutrient—and how iron also
can pose a threat.

July 24: “The Great Lakes Futures Project: Toward a
Sustainable Future for the Great Lakes,” Joseph Atkinson,
director, Great Lakes Program, and professor, Department of Civil,
Structural and Environmental Engineering, and Kathryn Friedman,
research associate professor of law and policy, UB Regional
Institute, Strategic Strength in Civic Engagement and Public
Policy. Atkinson and Friedman will look at the science and
policy involved in a major bi-national initiative to ensure a
sustainable future for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin,
and make a case for an integrated approach to better
understanding—and ultimately solving—issues impacting
the basin.

July 31: “Nanomaterials for Solar Energy
Conversion,” David Watson, associate professor,
Department of Chemistry, Strategic Strength in Integrated
Nanostructured Systems. Watson will discuss the unique
properties of nanometer-scale materials and how those properties
might be exploited to dramatically increase the efficiency of
solar-energy conversion.